This idea helps build credibility and leads to more sales! On the reverse side of your business cards, print the names and phone numbers of three of your top customers who will give you great references. Give these cards to your prospects and encourage them to contact your customers for references. Get permission from your customers beforehand, of course.

This
idea helps build credibility and leads to more sales!
On the reverse side of your business cards, print the names and
phone numbers of three of your top customers who will give you great
references. Give these cards to your prospects and encourage them
to contact your customers for references. Get permission from your
customers beforehand, of course.

This
idea helps build customer satisfaction, plus it can be used to market
your business, leading to more sales! Ask your customers
to grade your report card. Rather than send customers a standard
satisfaction survey, send them a survey in the form of a report
card. Ask your customers to give you letter grades, i.e. A, B, C,
etc. By the way, if you're afraid to ask your customers to grade
you, don't be. They're already grading you, and telling others what
they think. Use the report card to find out what they're saying.
Also, use the report card to improve your business. Ultimately,
use it to promote your business. If your customers give you straight
As, don't be afraid to tell everyone!

This
idea will help you get a better response from your customers when
you ask them to rate your services. When you mail your customers
a report card, or customer satisfaction survey, include something
to prompt a better response. For example, include a small magnifying
glass with the explanation, "we're focused on our customers.
" Or, send a measuring tape with the explanation, "we're
asking our customers to tell us how we measure up." Or, send
a free lottery ticket with the explanation, "we're not about
to leave your satisfaction to chance!"

This
idea makes better use of money you're already spending, and promotes
your business. Your business envelopes probably consist
of lots of white space. Why not turn that white space into a billboard?
Create a " teaser" statement - perhaps a one-line description
of your business, or a special offer and imprint it on the outside
of your envelope, right under your return address. Time-sensitive
billboards, and curiosity-builders, are ideal for this purpose.
(Keep the message clear of the upper right corner of the envelope,
which is reserved for postage). With available technology, you can
easily change your billboard whenever you so desire by running your
envelopes through a laser printer. Here are some sample lines you
could use:

Win
$$$ when you visit our website at www.sitename.com.

Clean
two rooms for the price of one when you respond by March 15

Save
money with a mid-year consultation --- book it by June 1

Free
gift when you open this envelope and call our office.

This
idea helps you focus on your market and get more of the same types
of customers. An accountant already serves a large number
of chiropractors. With his experience, he can focus on finding new
clients who are chiropractors. He can do that by buying lists of
chiropractors (or using the yellow pages to build his own list),
and then contacting those prospects via direct mail and other forms
of marketing. Of course, if he gets his existing chiropractor clients
involved in his marketing efforts, he will get better results. His
clients can refer him to other chiropractors, as well as personally
introduce him. They can write letters to their peers on behalf of
the accountant.

This
is yet another idea to help you focus on your niche market.
Go to the Equifax site on the worldwide web at http://www.ends.com
and play the Lifestyle Game. By entering a U.S. postal zip code,
you can learn more about the demographics of that particular market.
You can use this information to plan more effective direct mailings!

Here's
an idea that makes people happy and brings them closer to your business.
When you were a kid, did you belong to a birthday club?
Did a restaurant, or an ice cream shop, entice you to join its birthday
club just by filling out a card? Probably so. And it made you feel
good, too, didn't it? So why don't you use this idea in your business?
Doesn't matter the type of business. On a customer's birthday (or
anniversary), an accountant could provide a free hour of consultation
. . . a carpet cleaner could offer a free bottle of stain remover
. . . a contractor could offer a free inspection of a previous job
. . . an HVAC business could offer a free filter cleaning . . .
a swimming pool cleaner could offer a free cleaning . . . etc. etc.
How about calling up your customers and singing Happy Birthday to
them by phone?! That ought to make them remember your business.

Similar
to a Tip Club, here's an idea to help you get more customers by
networking with a friend in business. Think of another business
owner -- someone with a customer base similar to yours, who could
promote your products or services, and in exchange you could promote
their products and services. For example, you're an interior, residential
painter. You know a contractor who specializes in remodeling kitchens.
Or, you own a maid service. You know a carpet cleaner. The idea
is that you both have similar customer bases, but you sell different
products and services. Call that other business owner and suggest
a networking event for just the two of you. Reserve an entire morning
or afternoon for this. The two of you get together with your customer
databases, or rolodexes. Meet at an office, or in a home, where
you can have access to two separate phone lines, preferably in the
same room. Each of you gets on a phone and starts calling your customers
to recommend the other's products and services. At the end of three
or four hours, you'll both have several appointments and opportunities
for new business. Do this quarterly, or more often if you can think
of enough business owners with similar customer bases.

Use
this idea to show your customers you're going out of your way to
help them feel more satisfied. The Broadview Hotel in Wichita,
KS has developed an idea that's phenomenal in the hotel industry.
If you can adapt it to your business, it will be powerful! If you
make a reservation at the Broadview, a week before your arrival
you can expect a phone call from the hotel's concierge asking
if there's anything special you will need during your stay. Isn't
that terrific! Have you ever heard of such service before from a
hotel, or any business? A manager at the hotel says guests are
always shocked, but pleasantly surprised, to receive the concierge's
call. The interesting thing is that while no one asks for anything
all that special, or unusual, almost everyone comments on the brilliance
of this idea. The Broadview's concierges make 6,000 of these
calls a year . . . can you imagine the goodwill these phone calls
generate? If each guest just tells one other person, that's an extra
6,000 people who hear about the hotel . . . How can you adapt this
idea for your business? How can you show customers you're willing
to go out of your way to help them feel more satisfied? Maybe it
doesn't make sense to call your customers before you provide your
service . . . but how about a follow-up phone call?

Here's
an idea to help you build your marketing budget. Small businesses
spend three to five percent of gross receipts annually on marketing.
When you price a job, or provide an estimate, add a percentage for
your marketing budget. Then, when you collect your money, be sure
to set aside the percentage for marketing. Businesses that say they
can't afford marketing are losing ground to their competition, even
if they don't realize it!

This
idea piggybacks on an annual event. There are plenty of ways to
adapt it for every business. Every year, the U.S. Government
require people to pay all taxes due and outstanding on or before
April 15. You can piggyback on that date by offering "April
15" specials. For example: 2-for-the-price-of-1 when you place
your order by April 15. Or $15 off when you order by April 15. Or,
you could mail a tax refund coupon to your customers, offering a
percentage-off on purchases made by April 15. Keep in mind that
hundreds of thousands of consumers receive tax refunds in the Spring
of every year. For many, this extra money will be re-invested in
their homes or automobiles, or used for leisure activities and products.
Help consumers spend their tax refunds by offering them "tax
refund specials." Piggyback on other annual events . . . Mother's
Day, Father's Day, Secretary's Day, etc. etc.

Here's
an idea to help you introduce new products and services.
Many times, customers are surprised to discover that a business
they've frequented for months or years offers products and services
that they didn't know about, but would buy if given the opportunity.
When you introduce a new product or service, how do you spread the
word to your customers and prospects? Here are three easy ways to
get the word out: List products and services on (1) your fax cover
sheets, (2) your invoices, and (3) postcards that you mail to your
customers, or include with outgoing correspondence or packages.

This
idea will bring you closer to your best customers and encourage
them to help you find more customers like them. Do you know
your top five customers? Shame on you if you don't! Not only should
you know these customers, you should make it a point to take each
one to dinner once a year to celebrate their loyalty to you and
your business. This is a terrific way for you to say "thank
you" and at the same time discuss the development of your business.
Ask these customers to help you identify prospects who might want
to become customers! Remember, it will cost you six to ten times
more money to find a new customer than to sell something again to
an existing customer. The price of a dinner, even a really nice
dinner, may pale in comparison to the cost of replacing a good customer.

Here's
an idea that big companies use all the time . . . no reason you
shouldn't use it in your business, too! A meeting with a
marketing executive from almost any Fortune 1000 company sooner
or later will touch on the subject of "industry drivers."
It's important to understand what "drives" your industry.
What are the compelling reasons that make consumers buy your product
or service? Why do people decide to remodel their bath rooms and
kitchens? Why do people decide to have their carpets cleaned? Why
do people replace plumbing or pipes or heating and air conditioning
units or electrical wiring? Get the point? People make buying decisions
for particular reasons. What " drives" those decisions?
By studying the "drivers", you can leverage them for your
business. Look at the pizza industry, where there's plenty of competition.
What drives people to buy Pizza Hut over Domino's over Papa John's
over Caesar's? You can bet the pizza marketers know! And they use
their marketing dollars to play off those drivers. No reason you
can't operate similarly. Look at the demographics of your customers.
What do they have in common? What are their preferences? You've
got to understand your customers, and the psychology that drives
their buying decisions, to identify the all-important industry drivers
that can result in more business for your business!

This
idea requires you to " get physical" with your marketing
strategy. The unique quality of this idea will draw more customers
to your business. Want to grab a customer's or prospect's
attention? Get physical. In other words, use something more
than literature to promote your business. A computer software trainer
sends a bottle of aspirins to prospects to get them to sign up for
his seminars which are designed to "ease the pain" of
learning a new software program. A travel agent uses sand to sell
vacations. What could you send to your prospects and customers?
Think of the benefits of your products and services. Now think of
an object to associate with the benefits. Send that object to your
customers and prospects!

Here's
an idea that suggests you don't do what you think is good for the
customer . . . you do what the customer says is good for the customer!
US Airways recently formed an employee task force to improve customer
service. While the airline receives 50,000 complaints annually,
the #1 complaint is late flights. So US Airways decided to get its
employees involved in at least reducing the problem of late flights.
After studying the issues involved, and implementing the ideas of
the task force, US Airways moved to the No. 1 spot for on-time performance
in the fourth quarter of 1996; previously the airline was No. 7.
Written complaints to the airline have dropped from five a day to
3.5 a day! "We're listening more," explained an airline
representative."In the past, we did what we thought was good
for the customer." The airline uses customer complaints as
a measurement of how well the business is performing. How about
your business? What's the #1 complaint you hear from your customers?
Could a group of employees help you reduce, if not remove, the problem?

Follow
these ten ideas from Carl Sewell, author of the best-seller, Customers
For Life, and you'll build a more successful business. Carl
Sewell is one of the most successful auto dealers in the world.
Here's what he says you should do to build a successful business:

Ask
customers what they want and give it to them again and again.

Saying
please and thank you doesn't ensure you'll do the job right
the first time, every time. Only systems guarantee that.

Learn
how the best really do it; make their systems your own. Then
improve them.

This
idea suggests a new way to look at your marketing efforts.
Why do businesses lose customers? Here's why:

3%
Move Away

5%
Friends lead them elsewhere

9%
Competitors provide a better offer

14%
Product Dissatisfaction

68%
Indifference towards customer by owner/employee

Not
much you can do about the 3% of customers who move, or the 5% who
are persuaded by friends to shop elsewhere. Interestingly, even
though it's the most competitive area, most businesses go to battle
over the 9% who switch for a better offer. It's tough to win in
that category because a competitor can always offer a better deal.
Quality control tries to ensure that 14% of customers remain loyal
. . . still a small percentage. But look at the 68%. Do you know
any businesses that work hard in the area of keeping customers by
showing them that they're cared for? While the 68% is usually ignored
by most businesses, overcoming indifference represents the best
opportunity for you to build customer loyalty. If you haven't already
created a customer retention program, this may be your best opportunity
for capturing and keeping more customers.

This
Free Report is not intended as business advice. Consult with appropriate
advisors prior to franchising a business. For information about
further assistance from Dr. Hayes, call 972-985-8044.

John Hayes is a prolific writer, popular speaker, seminar leader and consultant to businesses in the United States and internationally. He is an advisor to small business owners, independent distributors, franchisees and franchisors. john@hayesworldwide.com